Jamming With Edward
"Jamming With Edward" is the ninth session, or episode, of Cowboy Bebop. Credits Written by: * Dai Soto Cast: *Spike *Jet *Faye *Ed *Mpu *Punch *Judy *Yuuri *Amjad *Announcer 1 *Announcer 2 *Police 1 *Police 2 Cast (uncredited): *Ein Animation Director: * Takahiro Komori Mechanical Animation Director: * Masami Goto Plot In orbit above Earth, a satellite's artificial intelligence laments being alone then connects to several other satellites in the area. They begin to fire lasers onto the planet's surface, imprinting carvings in the shapes of various animals. Edward lays outside in District 39 while listening to the radio and surfing the net. She hacks into the Earth Gate server where she spots the Bebop scheduled to land for vacation. She yells happily as if she knows about the Bebop, then rock showers hit her area and toss Edward and her equipment into the air. On the Bebop, everyone is halfheartedly listening to a news program on TV; Jet prunes a Bonsai tree, Faye files her nails, and Spike washes his ship: the Swordfish II. The news anchor explains that a 8 million Woolong bounty has been placed by the Earth government on whoever is responsible for hacking into the orbiting satellites and causing them to create these land carvings of animals. The psychic visiting on the program, however, claims the carvings are the work of aliens and the bounty is part of a conspiracy. Spike decides to pass on the bounty opportunity, citing that chasing down hackers is boring work, which leaves Jet and Faye to team up alone, much to Jet's concern. Meanwhile, Ed is having fun with a remote-controlled toy. When the Earth Police Department arrives to investigate a suspected hacker attempt, Ed happily says hello. She starts to take control of their ship, and flies it around like the toy,. However, she quickly loses control and the two officers are devastated as it hits the ground, destroyed. Ed later hacks into the Bebop as Spike is sleeping to find out that the crew is after the satellite. Her program then sees Ein watching the computer and makes a big smile. The Bebop lands in the water and the two make their plan: Faye will inspect the antenna which the hackers could have used, and Jet will find information about the hackers themselves. Flying over a sector of Earth, Faye learns that there are hundreds of active transmitters in the area in which she's searching for the hacker. At a defunct train depot, Jet learns that the culprit is most likely Radical Edward, but he can't get an accurate description of the person. Edward hacks into the Outernet server and enters the virtual mind of the satellite that started the land carvings. Once she is in there, she discovers that no one had hacked into it before, and hears a voice inside the system. Eyecatch The satellite identifies itself as the Central Processing Unit on the D135 Artificial Satellite. Edward decides to call it MPU because it's like CPU, only neater. MPU explains that he made those land carvings to recreate the Nazca lines after the gate accident destroyed Earth's landscape. As Edward asks if she can draw something, the Earth Police jam the signal and Edward loses contact with MPU. On the Bebop, Jet relates his myriad of conflicting and incredible descriptions as Spike examines the piyokos that Jet brought back as a souvenir. Jet turns to the computer to see that the police are also after Edward, but just then, Edward contacts them through a hack job. She tells them that the satellite itself caused the land carvings, at the cost of their granting her a favor. She explains that the only way to "capture" MPU is by flying manually to the satellite, avoiding the attack satellites that will open fire sensing on-board computers, and download MPU through a direct line into the system. Jet dismisses it as impossible, but Spike starts to walk away, now excited about the challenge. The Bebop takes off and they talk details. In his spacesuit, Spike connects port D7 to port 2, which allows him to fire lasers without the computer. With the computer and engine off, Spike drifts towards the satellite by opening and closing small airlocks that propel the ship back on course. Spike fires on the satellite, but the blast is blocked at the last moment by an attack satellite. The other satellites wake up and Spike is forced to turn his ship back on and race and dodge into incoming fire. Faye, flying in her Redtail, reluctantly covers Spike and engages the attack satellites who are firing in her direction. Edward suggests that Spike fly within 20 meters of MPU, where the attack satellites won't risk hitting the weather satellite, while Faye acts as a decoy to draw fire. The plan works and Spike connects to the satellite where Edward goes to work downloading a copy of MPU. Back on Earth, Spike and Jet attempt to collect their bounty but the Earth police rule that bounties are only issued to life forms and not computers. Jet supposes it was a good excuse to hunt hackers. The crew attempts to fly off without Edward, who was promised by Faye that she could be a full member of the crew, but Edward brings down the ship using her remote control, forcing them to take her along. Spike complains that the three things he particularly hates (kids, animals and women with attitudes) are all packed gathered in his and Jet's ship as they fly off from Earth where a new land carving (of Ed's computer persona) is drawn onto the surface of South America. Quotes ---- ---- ---- Songs * Tank! (TV Edit) – Opening titles * Kabutoga ni kodai no sakana – News broadcast about land-carvings * "Funk" – James Brown-esque song, possibly library music Interview with Amjad * The Egg and I – The Bebop crew try to find the hacker * Cats on Mars – Edward talks to Mpu * Piano Bar II – News broadcast about Mpu * Car 24 – Edward flies the Bebop * American Money – "Big Shot" * Cats on Mars – Spike realises Edward is now a fixture on the Bebop * The Real Folk Blues – Closing titles * The Singing Sea (Piano Version) – Unreleased Preview for Ganymede Elegy Background Themes and Motifs *Missed Bounty: This session is an example of the Bebop crew missing out on a bounty they set out to capture. They are unable to collect on the bounty of MPU, who was indeed responsible for the land carvings, on a technicality that only life forms be subject to bounties. Homages and References *Jamming with Edward! is the title of a 1972 album recorded by several members of The Rolling Stones. The title refers to sessions pianist Nicky Hopkins, a talented studio player who has played with such groups as The Beatles, The Who, Neil Young, and Jeff Beck among others. *At the very beginning of the session, MPU resembles the computer HAL 9000 from Arthur C. Clarke's book and Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey. *The pictures drawn by MPU are identical to the famous geoglyphs in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. *Yurri Kellerman, the "expert on the supernatural" is a likely reference to TV psychic Uri Geller. *One of the names on Ed's computer Tomato is Thomas Wayne which is likely a reference to Batman *Another name on the computer is "Predator" which is also likely a reference to the movie of the same name. *The drawings that the satellite is carving are recreations of the ancient Nazca line drawings of Peru. MPU states he is recreating them within a 2% margin of error. These drawings are famous for their gigantic size and are the subject of a lot of controversy as to how an ancient civilization could create them or why they even would. Trivia * Jet's comment about determining a woman's age strikes a nerve with Faye. It is later revealed that Faye has been revived from a previous era, and is in fact much older than she looks. This aspect of Faye becomes a key part of her character, and Jet's early comment is a foreshadowing of this. * Edward reveals her full name to the satellite as "Edward Wang Hwe Pepel Cybulski 4th". A hint at just how eccentric she is. Gallery 9 MPU1.png 9 Edward.png 9 SatelliteBrain.png 9 FayeJetSpike.png 9 EdFlyBebop2.png 9 Bebop Remote.jpg 9 Carvings.jpg 9 Ed Hack Bebop.jpg 9 Jet Investigates.jpg 9 Useless.jpg Television interviewer.jpg Television reporter on satellites.jpg Sessions Category:Sessions